SD 144 
C2 P4 
1888 
Copy 1 



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MENIORIAL 




FIFTIETH CONGRESS 



UNITED STATES. 



PRESEN^^l^D BY THE STATE BOARD OF FORESTRY OF CALIFORNIA. 




SACRAMENTO: 

STATE OFFICE : : : J. D. YOUNG, SIIPT. STATE PRTNTTNG. 

1888. 



li^^^-. 






MEMORIAL 



FIFTIETH CONGRESS 



UNITED STATES. 



PRESENTED BY THE STATE BOARD OF FORESTRY OF CALIFORNIA. 




SACRAMENTO: 

STATE OFFICE, : : : : J. D. YOUNG, SUPT. STATE PRINTING. 

1888. 






% oi 



RESOLUTIONS 

ADOPTED BY THE 

AMERICAN HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



To the 



I am directed by the California State Board of Forestry to call your 
attention to the following resolution passed at the meeting of the American 
Horticultural Association, held in San Jose, on the twentieth of January, 
1888. Also to the annexed reports of the State Board, and its Engineer, 
and Expert. It is hoped that you will recognize the vital importance to 
the country of this subject, and give it the consideration which it deserves. 

SANDS W. FORMAN, 

Secretary. 

Whereas, It is now known that a due proportion of forest, varying from one fourth to 
one fifth of the area of a given locality, is essential to secure the largest agricultural returns 
and the maintenance of the largest population in the whole district; and that deforesta- 
tion exceeding this proportion diminishes the total output of crops, even though the culti- 
vated area be increased, and consequently diminishes the capacity of the land to support 
population; and whereas, excessive tree destruction, without regard to the maintenance 
of the reproductive power of the forest, causes irregularity and uncertainty in the rainfall, 
diminished wood and lumber supply for the future, diminished humidity of the air, 
diminished health of the people — especially through the production of malarial disease — 
diminished springs and summer flow of streams used for luivigation and irrigation, in- 
creased extremes of heat and cold, of drought and flood, and, in mountainous countries 
like California, causes the production of torrents that carry debris from the denuded 
water-sheds to cover and destroy fertile valley lands below; and whereas, the present 
Government land laws furnish neither an adequate means of carrying on the lumber 
industry, nor any means for protecting the water-sheds, and consequently, the irrigators 
and inland navigators, nor the climate and crops of the country; and whereas, timber 
lands are lieing rapidly taken up by Ciuestionable means, freipieiitly in the interests of 
foreign capitalists ; therefore, be it 

Resolved, That the American Horticultural Society, in convention assembled, calls the 
attention of Congress to this sultject, of vital importance to the country, and requests that 
all government timber lands l)e at i nice withdrawn fr( im sale or entry, and that the Mining 
Act granting timber to locators be repealed until a definite survey shall have ascertained 
what portions of the public forests should be permanently reserved for the best interests 
of the nation, and that when such forest areas shall be definitely ascertained, they shall 
be set apart and managed in accordance with such regulations as have been suggested 
and verified by the experience of other nations. The questionable means necessary to 
oijtain large bodies of timber lands, now so energetically practiced, together with the 
waste and destruction, and fires, nuikes this or a similar measure one of urgency. 



Respectfully submitted. 



ABBOT KINNEY, California. 

T. S. HUBBARD, Fredonia, New York. 

J. U. SMITH, Green Bay, Wisconsin. 

T. V. MUNSON, Dennison, Texas. 

J. CLARK RIDPATH, Greencastle, Indiana. 



PRESENTATION OF FACTS 

BY THE 

STATE BOARD OF FORESTRY OF CALIFORNIA. 



The State Board of Forestry respectfully represents that owing to defects 
in the present land and mining laws of the United States, unscrupulous 
persons are enabled to acquire temporary possessory right and title to lands 
chiefly valuable for timber, without first purchasing them from the Govern- 
ment of the United States, and that this Board is powerless to prevent the 
wholesale destruction of the forests of California, by such parties in pos- 
session under color of title, unless existing mining and land laws are 
amended and greater powers to prosecute depredators on unoccupied lands 
belonging to the United States are conferred on this Board by special Act 
of Congress. 

It is, therefore, of the greatest importance that a new Act " for the pro- 
tection of the forests of California," free from all defects of former ones, 
should be passed immediately by Congress, and that the greatest care be 
exercised and provisions made in it to prevent hereafter the possibility of 
such or similar frauds and practices as are committed at present under 
existing laws, and also to segregate and place the remaining timber lands 
of the United States, in the State of California, under the exclusive control 
and protection of the State Board of Forestry, with amjile powers to pros- 
ecute all offenders and depredators on the public domain. 

The greater part of all depredations on the public domain, under color 
of title, and the consequent destruction of the forests, is committed under 
Section 2330 of the Revised Statutes, and the Act of June 3, 1878, pro\'id- 
ing for the sale of timber lands in California, Oregon, and Washington 
Territory, and State of Nevada. 

Section 2330 of the Revised Statutes permits the locating of one hun- 
dred and sixty acres of mineral lands, conforming to legal subdivisions 
thereunder. S. S. Burdett, formerly Commissioner of the General Land 
Office, Washington, D. C, under date of October 21, 1875, rules and issues 
the following instructions, to E. F. George, Recorder, Lewis District, Lan- 
der County, Nevada: 

Locators of mining chiims, their heirs and assigns, have "the exclusive right of possession 
to the surface ground included within the Unes of their location, upon compliance with 
the laws of the United States and State, territorial, and local regulations governing pos- 
sessory titles, where no adverse claim exists on the tenth of May, 1872. The parties having 
such right of possession to the surface, have also the right of possessiojj to the tim- 
ber GROWINCi thereon." 

S. S. BUEDETT, 
Commissioner General Land Office. 
Washington, D. C, October 21, 1887. 

See Kopp's Land Owner, vol. 2, p. 114. 

Under this ruling parties in the mining counties at the cost of " one dol- 
lar, ^^ Recorder's fee, obtain possessory title and exclusive right to the timber 
growing on one hundred and sixty acres of land, and do allow the owners 
of sawmills or corporations, for a royalty of perhaps 50 cents or $1 per 
tree or cord of firewood, to cut all the timber on the premises so located. 



6 

As soon as all timber is cut, a new tract is located, by the same parties, in 
the same manner, and the practice is repeated by them as long as saw logs 
or cordwood is in demand, deriving therefrom quite a revenue. This prac- 
tice is carried on to a great extent in the mining counties. 

If this ruling of the honorable Commissioner were modified to limit the 
possessory right of the miner to only so much of the timber required and 
necessary for the actual working of the mine, or the running and building 
of works appertaining thereto, and the law make it a felony for the locator 
to sell or allow other parties to cut timber or cordwood within the limits of 
lands located by him as mineral, it would be a great step towards stopping 
this fraudulent practice and wholesale destruction of timber. 

Under the Act entitled " An Act for the sale of timber lands in the 
States of California, Oregon, Nevada, and Washington Territory," it is pro- 
vided in 

Section 1. That surveyed public lands of the Uuited States within the States of Cali- 
fornia, Oregon, Nevada, and in Washington Territory, not within military, Indian, or 
other reservations of the United States, chieti;/ valuable for thnber hut unfit fur cultivation, 
and which have not been offered at public sale, according to law, may be sold to citizens 
of the United States, or persons who have declared their intention to become sucli, in 
quantities not exceeding one hundred and sixty acres, to any person or association of 
persons, at the minimum price of $2 50 per acre, etc. 

And in Section 2, it is provided: 

That any person desiring to avail himself of the provisions of this Act shall file with 
the Register of the proper district a written statement in duplicate, one of which is to be 
transmitted to the General Land Office, designating by legal svibdivisions the particular 
tract of land he desires to purchase, setting forth that the same is unfit for cultivation 
and valuable chiefly for timber or stone, etc., which statement must be verified by the oath of the 
applicant. 

Prom this it will be seen that the provisions of the above entitled Act 
apply only to lands " valuable for timber, but unfit for cultivation," 
fixing the purchase price for such lands at $2 50 per acre, leaving thereby 
the best and most valuable class of timber lands, viz.: lands "valuable 
FOR TIMBER AND FIT FOR CULTIVATION ALSO," Open to preemption and home- 
stead entry, and the provisions of Section 2, demanding " oath " as to the 
character of the land, prevent parties willing to purchase and to pay to 
the Government the $2 50 per acre from obtaining title, .because they can- 
not swear conscientiously that lands, the soil of which is rich enough to 
produce the growth of giant sequoias, enormous sugar pines, and all the 
other more valuable species of coniferous trees, and are generally well 
watered, are unfit for cultivation. 

Being, therefore, open to preemption, land rings, lumber companies, and 
owners of sawmills are not slow to avail themselves of the opportunities 
offered and obtain possession of the choicest timber lands for the insig- 
nificant sum of $3 per one hundred and sixty acres, the amount of the 
fee demanded for filing the claim in the proper office. 

Under the plea of clearing the land for agricultural purposes, they pro- 
ceed at once to cut the timber, but fail to make any attempt at cultivation, 
and leave the land long before the expiration of the thirty-three months, 
despoiled of all valuable timber. 

Other causes contributing to the destruction of the timber are the fires 
caused by stockmen and sheepherderS, either purposely to clear the coun- 
try from brush and undergrowth, or accidentally. The shal-e-splitters, who 
pay no respect to lines or claims and generally cut several of finest-looking 
sugar pines before one is found which will split, causing thereby a great 
waste of the most valuable timber; and last but not least, the Chinamen, 



who of late years have committed great havoc, cutting down in great num- 
bers the balsam or silver fir, for no other purpose than to obtain the 
balsam, or gum of this tree, which is shipped' by them to San Francisco, 
or presumably for medicinal purposes, to China. The tan bark gatherers 
who destroy the tan-bark oak for the bark alone, leaving the entire tree, 
with this exception, to rot, or in fires to contribute to the burning of the 
whole forest. All of which fraudulent and nefarious practices committed 
on lands belonging to the United States the State Board of Forestry is 
unable to prevent for lack of powers vested in the Board. 

As the means of preserving the remnants of the forests of California, it 
is suggested that an Act of Congress may be passed, and provide: 

First — For the immediate suspension of the preemption laws and the 
timber Act of June 3, 1878. 

Second — To instruct the United States Surveyor-General for California 
to classify and segregate by actual survey, from the public domain, all 
remaining unoccupied lands of the United States in the State of California, 
chiefly valuable for timber, fit and nnfit for cidtivation. 

Third — For the amendment of the mining Act so that timber cannot be 
sold by locators. 

Fourth — For the permanent withdrawal from purchase or entry of all 
lands so segregated and surveyed by the United States Surveyor-General 
for California. 

Fifth — All lands so segregated and withdrawn from purchase or entry to 
be placed under the exclusive protection of the State Board of Forestry. 

Sixth — Full and special powers to be conferred to the Board to prosecute 
depredators on lands placed under the protection of the Board. And as a 
further means to perpetuate and protect the growth of timber it is respect- 
fully suggested that a clause may be inserted, in all agricultural patents 
hereafter granted, making it mandatory to the patentee, that on land 
requiring the clearing of timber for agricultural or other purposes, a certain 
number of trees be left standing on each legal subdivision. 

We herewith transmit the Act in relation to forestry already introduced 
into Congress at the suggestion of this Board, which we think should be 
amended to conform to our riper experience as herein recommended. We 
also respectfully call attention to the rapid entry and purchase of the forest 
lands of California, now at flood tide, which we deem a sufficient reason 
for making these or similar measures ones of urgency. We also transmit 
the preliminary reports of two of our forest officers, setting forth the con- 
ditions now prevailing in our forests. 

ABBOT KINNEY, Chairman. 
JAMES BETTNER. 
JNO. D. SPRECKELS. 



REPORT 

OF THE 

SPECIAL AGENT OF THE STATE BOARD OF FORESTRY. 



San Francisco, January 28, 1888. 
To the State Board of Forestry: 

Gentlemen: Acting under instructions from this Board, I have traveled 
extensively throughout the State of California for the purpose of securing 
evidence that would lead to the conviction of such persons as were tres- 
passing on our timber lands. 

Everywhere I have observed indications of the indiscriminate destruc- 
tion of forests, especially in the mountainous regions. This destruction is 
the result of several agencies: Wealthy lumber companies boldly erect 
their mills on Government lands, and then denude the forests of their 
timber; sheep men occupy those lands for pasturage during the summer 
months, and when leaving in the fall, set fires throughout the whole 
country, desolating and destroying large areas of valuable timber; shake- 
makers recklessly cut down large numbers of trees, utilizing but a small 
portion of the wood laid waste; wood-cutters annually remove thousands 
of cords of firewood, disposing of it at the nearest market. In fact, the 
vast area of timber land devastated by the ravages of fire and the axe of 
the woodman, is something appalling. 

Attempts have been made to collect e^ddence against these depredators, 
and to prosecute them in the Courts. Such efforts have almost invariably 
proved complete failures. It is exceedingly difficult to collect evidence 
sufficiently strong to warrant a prosecution. Witnesses dislike and refuse 
to turn informers concerning the acts of a neighbor. Oftentimes they are 
equally as liable themselves. 

Again, although timber cutting is prohibited by statute, decisions have 
been rendered which make the law a nullity and conviction impossible; 
or, if conviction be had, a nominal penalty is too frequently the only pen- 
alty inflicted by the Court. Much time and money has been spent in 
w^orking up cases against timber depredators, only to have all proceedings 
finally dismissed. People will not obey these laws, juries will not sustain 
them, Judges will not enforce them. 

Such a condition of affairs is certainly discouraging. It does not enable 
us to preserve our forests; it does not hold out any hope of relief for the 
future; it does not permit us to strike at the root of the evil. Nothing but 
a total reconstruction of the timber laws by an Act of Congress, can afford 
us protection from the destructive waste of the timber depredator, and the 
wanton carelessness of the fire setter. That immediate relief is necessary 
can easily be shown. 

The value of all building material, especially that of lumber, has greatly 
increased within the past few years. This is due to the large immigration 
into this State, the settling up of the rural districts, and the phenomenal 
growth of towns and cities. Timber is no longer a commodity possessing 



10 

but little or no value, and should not be considered the property of him 
who first appropriates it. Yet, this idea, sanctioned by long custom, pre- 
vails generally throughout our mountainous country. That such an error 
should be corrected is incontrovertible. Our forests are becoming too 
valuable to longer suffer these continued depredations without compensa- 
tion for the loss. 

Again, California presents a far different condition of affairs from any 
other State in the Union. With us it is not simply a question of timber 
preservation by reason of its own intrinsic value, but a question of more 
serious and far-reaching moment. Our forests play an important part 
in the economy of our resources. They are found, for the most part, dis- 
tributed over our extensive mountain ranges. These mountains constitute 
a great water-shed for the interior valleys of this State. They are large 
water-bearing districts, the resources of which would be materially dimin- 
ished if denuded of trees. Within their confines exist vast bodies of snow, 
which under the protecting shade of our coniferous forests, gradually 
melt away throughout the long summers, feeding the numerous streams 
that have their origin in those regions. Dependent on this water supply 
are the great irrigation districts of California. Formerly consisting of dry 
and arid plains over which cattle roamed and found an uncertain and 
precarious living, now a region fast coming into prominence as the most 
productive of our agricultural lands. 

Great as is the increase in our material prosperity by reason of the intro- 
duction of irrigation, it yet sinks into insignificance when compared with 
the possibilities which the future holds out before us. The denudation of 
our forest lands means the diminishing of our original water sources, the 
crippling of our irrigation districts, and irreparable loss to the agricultural 
interests of this State. We cannot afford to longer jeopardize our welfare 
by submitting to this impending danger. Calamity will certainly overtake 
us should it continue to exist. Now is the time to take such necessary 
steps as will preclude the possibility of this contingency. Congress should 
grant such relief as will secure our continued prosperity. Most of the 
timber land referred to is yet owned by the Government. If not reserved 
from entry, it will soon be appropriated by eager purchasers and far-seeing 
speculators. The necessity for immediate action is urgent. A complete 
reservation of all timber lands as yet unentered sliould be made by Con- 
gress. Provision could then be made for the proper preservation of such 
lands. This is the only step that will secure to us the relief demanded. 
It is to be hoped that Congress will give the matter its favorable considera- 
tion. 

Respectfully submitted. 

EDWARD L. COLLINS, 
Special Agent State Board of Forestry. 



REPORT 

OF THE 

Engineer of the California State Board of Forestry. 



San Francisco, January 26, 1888. 

To the Honorable Members of the California State Board of Forestry: 

Gentlemen: In accordance with instructions received fron your honor- 
able Board, on the twenty-third instant, I herewith submit a prehminary 
report on "forest destruction," and "forest preservation," in California. 

The three chief causes of destruction to our forests, which a careful 
supervision would check and prevent, are " forest fires," " the pasturage of 
browsing animals upon forest lands," and " illegal timber cutting." 

The forests of California have suffered serious losses from forest fires. 

Nearly every year since the settlement of the State, destructive fires 
have raged throughout the mountains, unheeded and unchecked, destroy- 
ing thousands of acres of our finest timber. 

The yearly loss caused by fire alone, is immense. 

In 1880 it was estimated that an area of over three hundred and fifty 
thousand acres were burned over by fire, and this was greatly exceeded 
in 1887. 

Throughout the entire State, citizens deplore the fearful ravages of forest 
fires, and their inability either to prevent or to check them. 

The causes of forest fires are: Camp fires, hunters, clearing land, malice, 
Indians. 

Camp fires are perhaps the most frequent cause of forest fires. 

Hunters leave their camp fires burning in abandoned camps. 

Sheepherders build large fires around their camps to frighten away 
wild animals at night, and are always perfectly indifterent as to the extent 
to which these fires spread. 

Hunters, especially Indians, frequently set fire to the forests in order 
to drive out game. 

Settlers clearing land allow their brush fires to escape into the forest. 

Intentional burning of herbage, to improve pasturage. This practice 
cannot be too greatly condemned. Every year vast tracts of forests are fired 
in order to hasten the early growth of spring herbage. Such fires do not 
always consume the old trees, but all undergrowth and seedlings are swept 
away, and thus not only are the young trees robljed of the natural protec- 
tion so essential to their growth, which the undergrowth affords, but by the 
destruction of germinating seedlings, the embryo forests of the future are 
destroyed. 

It is true that the destruction of large bodies of redwood by fire, has not 
prevented the reproduction of this species by seeds and shoots, still the 
forests in the interior of the State, when once destroyed by fire, either do 
not reproduce themselves, or are succeeded by a scrubby growth, principally 
poplar and small pines, much inferior to the valuable specimens of the 
original forest. 



12 

Although the necessity of checking forest fires is appreciated throughout 
the State, it would appear that there is no way under the present manage- 
ment of timber lands, in which it can be attained. Nor can those persons 
guilty of setting the forests on fire be reached and punished. 

The damage and permanent injury inflicted on our mountain forests by 
browsing animals, especially sheep, is immense, and unless checked, 
threatens their complete extermination. Tliey not only destroy the seed- 
ling trees, but often bark the trunk, and injure the vigor of the older trees. 

The custom of every summer driving numberless flocks of sheep into our 
mountain forests, where they remain from four to six months of the year, 
is an evil that it is impossible to check under our existing laws, notwith- 
standing that it should be speedily dealt with. 

"Illegal timber cutting" has met with more attention, and is far less 
dangerous to our forest interests, than either of the other two causes of forest 
destruction just enumerated. 

This is perhaps the easiest of forest offenses to deal with, as the stumps 
of the stolen trees still remain, silent witnesses of the crime. 

Here the shake-makers are the principal offenders. They look upon 
government timber as their own special property, provided by a kind 
providence to supply their individual wants. They prey entirely upon 
sugar pines, the most valuable timber in the State outside of the redwoods, 
and apparently without the least cause for fear of punishment. If shake- 
makers only felled those trees which they utilize in making shakes, it 
would be bad enough, but they generally fell from three to six, before one 
is found that will split straight enough for their purpose. 

Timber on government lands is looked upon as common property, to be 
made use of by any one taking the trouble to cut it. 

In the vicinity of settlements and small towns government timber has 
been very generally used for fencing and for firewood — perhaps the most 
worthy cause in which timber has been cut illegally. 

Sawmills have, to a greater or less extent, cut timber from the govern- 
ment lands adjoining their own private properties. But this has proved 
to be too dangerous a practice to be indulged in very extensively. 

Since the extension of railroads in every direction throughout the State, 
much timber which was of little marketable value on account of its inac- 
cessibility, has become available, and in the last few years thousands of 
acres of forests have been bought from the Govermnent, and as it will be 
shortly converted into lumber, the forest area of the State will be materi- 
ally lessened. 

California is a forest country, and there must be forest laws in a forest 
country; and the proper formation and enforcement of such laws is of 
vital importance to the future prosperity of the State. 

The present laws, as they relate to Government and State timber lands, 
are totally inadequate to protect our forests from injury and destruction. 

The ownership and control of forests in California has become a problem 
which requires a speedy solution, and it is of paramount importance, not 
only to the well-being of the State as a whole, but to each and every citi- 
zen of it, that means be adopted to check the destruction of our mountain 
forests. 

The "irrigation question," which has now become generally understood 
and is acknowledged to be of prime importance to the welfare of the State, 
depends almost entirely upon the "preservation of our forests." 

The "agricultural interests" of California are dependent upon irriga- 
tion, and irrigation in turn is dependent upon the constant and steady 
flow of streams formed by the melting of snow upon our mountains. 



io 

These mountains are covered by forests, whose shade, and the obstruc- 
tion which they offer to sweeping winds, lessen the evaporation and regu- 
late the melting of the snow. 

Strip these water-sheds of their forest covering, and the vast quantity 
of snow which accmnulates upon their slopes during the winter months, 
having no protection from the sun's warm rays in spring and early sum- 
mer, would quickly melt and precipitate into the streams below an im- 
mense volume of water, sweeping with it in its descent the surface soil, 
gravel, and stones from the mountain sides, and burying rich bottomlands 
in ruin. 

Not only would the initial effects of such floods be great, but the after 
results would be far more disastrovis. For by the sudden melting of the 
snow, the main resource from which the rivers had been accustomed to 
draw their supplies having become exhausted, the rivers would diminish 
to shallow creeks and perhaps entirely disappear. 

That forests of greater extent induce rain is a fact not much disputed 
by authorities on the subject. 

The precipitation of moisture upon the northwest coast of the United 
States is unequaled by any other part of the Continent. 

The rainfall in California follows the boundaries of our forests, and is 
modified by their distribution and density. 

The forest wealth of California is enormous, but it is not inexhaustible, 
and if the ravages from which our forests suffer are not checked, their com- 
plete extermination is not improbable. 

The general destruction of forests, which has entailed such serious con- 
sequences throughout the greater part of Europe, should serve as a lesson 
by which the people of California should profit. The laws of nature are 
uniform in their actions, and the history of forests in European countries 
may be repeated in California. 

The public welfare in California demands that the forests at the sources 
of streams should be protected and preserved. A system which endangers 
this is necessarily bad, and should be remedied. 

There can be no question but that whatever is necessary to the prosperity 
of a people, and belongs to the people, should be preserved for their public 
welfare. 

In establishing a system of '' forestry laws " for California, it is neces- 
sary that the citizens of the State have administrative control over its 
forests. 

If the forests of California belonged to the State, it would be within the 
power and province of the Legislature to provide for their protection. 

State control would not mean interference with our " lumber industry," 
it would not mean encroachment upon the rights of " American citizens," 
it would not mean an unjust discrimination in favor of any part3% clique, 
or corporation, ]:)ut it would mean: the preservation of property which we 
have inherited by descent, coming to us from our ancestors, and upon the 
preservation of which the future of the State and the prosperity of its pop- 
ulation depends. 

Very respectfully submitted. 

H. S. DAVIDSON, 
Engineer of the California State Board of Forestry. 



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